


Not Alone on This Road

by Cassiel_Angel_of_the_Lord



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Original Character(s), Ranger's Apprentice References
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-06
Updated: 2014-06-25
Packaged: 2017-12-22 15:51:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/915086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cassiel_Angel_of_the_Lord/pseuds/Cassiel_Angel_of_the_Lord
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been half a year since the fall of the Angels, and things are changing in the world. There are many Hunters that Sam and Dean have never met, including 17 year old sisters: Crissy and Cassidy. The sisters specialize in hunting Wendigos, but what happens when one of the survivors they save happens to be an ex-Angel? AU not really. Sabriel and Destiel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Wendigo and the Prisoner

The Tennessee Forest was a fairly large forest in its prime, but as times have changed and life has settled in, the forest has shrunk quite a bit. Currently, the forest reaches way up into Central Indiana and clear on down into Georgia. The Tennessee Forest doesn't seem like much, just a bunch of oaks, maples, and other deciduous trees that turned bright luminous colors in the fall; but there was much more than squirrels hiding in these dark woods. For thousands of years Wendigos lived out in these woods, living in the caves and hills alike. The hunting was easy, and the land was fertile. Ever since the fall of the Angels people from the big cities have been moving out of their concrete jungles, and into the much less known land of the Tennessee Forest. The public news says it’s because of recent economic problems, but any Hunter knew that wasn’t true. After the Fall all sorts of monsters have been coming out to play. Whether they had forgotten about the Hunters entirely or simply didn’t care anymore, well that was debatable. People were leaving the cities and hoping to find sanctuary in the Forest away from the creatures, but in truth they were only finding more trouble and bringing new kinds of problems with them. Now this sounds like the perfect Wendigo Haven, and in theory it was, but there was just one little snag. The Treaty Sisters.  
The Treaty Sisters had dedicated their lives to hunting down the Wendigos after one had attacked and killed their family all those years ago. It was a miracle that they had made it out alive, but now that they were still living and were determined to kill as many of the sons of bitches as possible. This hunt was just the same as all the others. A simple kill, rescue, and go.

“Ready Cass?”

“Ready Criss.”

“Let’s do this.”

The two sisters pulled up their hoods and branched off in their separate directions, knowing exactly where they needed to go in order to pull this off. Crissy crept along the entrance to the cave, and checked to make sure they had no company just yet. Then as silent as a shadow she climbed up the hill and hid at her position above the cave. With the sun quickly setting and the sisters nearly in position, the hunt was about to begin. Cassidy stayed posted by the cave entrance to ensure that her sister got to her position safely, and then she ghosted off to the cover of a large oak tree. While Cassidy kept visual on the cave entrance, Crissy kept her focus on the quickly disappearing sun. When the signal was given the sisters had to pull this off perfectly or they would quickly go from the hunters to the hunted. The procedure was strict and simple, always the best kind, and it ensured that the sisters had both the element of surprise and the high ground.

Crissy locked eyes with her sister and touched the inside of her left wrist where a silver oak leaf tattoo was printed. A small banner was tattooed above the oak leaf and it read in elegant cursive: Trust. Cassidy mimicked the movement, touching her own silver oak leaf tattoo which was practically identical to Crissy’s but instead of ‘Trust’ written on the banner Cassidy’s read: Loyalty. Cassidy reached for her bow that was slung over her shoulder and pivoted on her left foot getting out of cover. By the time she had locked into place she had an arrow on the string and the 75lb. long bow at full draw. She released the arrow and another with perfect precision toward the two piles of dried twigs that were positioned on either side of the cave entrance. As soon as the arrows reached their target the piles burst into flame and flooded the cave entrance and the surrounding area with an uncertain light that danced and flickered with every gust of wind.

Though the Wendigo may be expert hunters at night, they are easily caught off guard by their homes, since they aren’t exactly expecting someone to attack them at their lair. But this lighting and this kind of hunting, this was what the sisters were trained for. Hiding in the shadows, surprise attacks, snapping off shots from the darkness. This was their element.

A few moments past, and nothing happened, but it was only a matter of time. There it was the Wendigo. Tall, skinny, and downright ugly. It stepped uncertainly out of the cave, and by the looks of it, it seemed fairly young. Well you know young as far as ancient, man-eating creatures go. But there was one thing for sure; it was confused. The twigs sent up a strong scent of maple and smoke, which threw off the Wendigo’s sense of smell. It looked at the surrounding forest and crouched into what would be considered a ‘stalk’. That was, if it hadn’t already been spotted.

Crissy grabbed her bow too, and stayed low above the cave, merely a few feet away from the monster. Cassidy stayed hidden in the shadows, she looked to her sister who was ready as well. Now the signal. Cassidy resounded the Nightingale call, and two arrows zipped off toward the Wendigo. The first one, Cassidy’s, hit the Wendigo square in the chest. Shortly followed by Crissy’s, this struck the monster in the back. For a short moment nothing happened, and then all Hell broke loose on the Wendigo. As soon as the arrows hit the creature the obsidian arrowheads cracked, and released the partially molten core, lighting the bastard up like the Fourth of July. The Wendigo tried beating the flames out but only succeeded in spreading them. Crissy climbed down from her perch as the creature finally stopped fighting and collapsed in a big pile of burning ash.

“Woo, way to go! Nice shot.” Crissy said striding over to her sister and giving her a high five.

“Thanks you too! Okay lets get these fires put out.” Cassidy said running into the shadow covered woods. Crissy stayed by the cave to keep the fires in check, while Cassidy ran to their forest green Jeep, which was parked a few miles away in the confines of the forest. Many minutes passed with only the sounds of the crackling fires, and then a branch snapped from within the shadows. Though Crissy knew it was probably her sister, she could never be too careful. She melted into the shadows and drew her bow, and whistled a short series of notes sounding much like an enthusiastic robin. The air was quiet for a moment only the crickets and cicadas filled the otherwise silent air, then came the responds whistle. Crissy breathed a sigh of relief and seemed to materialize out of thin air. Cassidy strode out of the shadows carrying two large buckets of water with lids on them.

Each sister grabbed a bucket and set to work on snuffing out the three fires. The two brush fires didn’t take too much to extinguish, just about a gallon of water for each and a couple of stomps to get the more persistent flames out. The now extremely dead Wendigo was the one that took a lot to finally extinguish. It took about four gallons of water and a fire blanket to finally snuff the flames. When the flames were all diminished the clearing once filled with flickering light was now blanketed in darkness.

“Well let’s finish this.” Crissy said reaching for the flash light on her belt. Cassidy did the same and they headed toward the cave entrance. The two beams of lights swept back and forth as they traveled deeper into the cave. They looked for drag marks on the ground and claw marks on the wall, so far the cave had made many twists and turns but the sisters kept on their trail. As children they always used to explore caves for fun while their parents would find a camping site. They never realized exactly how careless and dangerous that was until their parents were killed. The paths of the cave were fairly confusing, but the sisters knew exactly where they were going making turns and searching for tracks like they were born knowing how to.

After about 15 minutes of tracking they finally entered the storage room. The room was dark, cold, and damp and just as they suspected the survivors were hanging down from the ceiling like dead pigs in a butcher’s freezer. Or should they say survivor.

By a large pile of bones there was one lone man hanging. He seemed to have very few injures just a few scratches here and there, and then a large claw mark running down the center of his bare chest. His once golden blond hair was now sticking to his scalp with blood and sweat. Crissy approached him calmly looking for signs of life. His chest was rising and falling slowly, and when his pulse point was checked there was a steady heartbeat. But he was completely unconscious, and just from experience he probably wouldn’t be waking up for another two or three hours. Cassidy went to the man’s side and helped support his weight as Crissy cut the ropes that tied him to the ceiling. Though the man was not exactly big or muscular, he was not very easy to carry. It was kind of like hauling a dead body around, so Crissy grabbed his legs and Cassidy his arms and they started the long trek back to the Jeep.

***  
It took about a half an hour to finally arrive at the Jeep. 20 minutes to get out of the cave and about 10-15 minutes to cover the mile back to the car. By the time the sisters loaded the unconscious man into the back seat their arms were exhausted, and the moon was high in the sky. While Cassidy loaded up the trunk with their belongings, Crissy draped a heavy wool blanket over the man. Just as she was about to with draw from the man and help her sister, his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist in a fairly strong hold. Crissy drew a sharp breath, the only sign of being startled.

“Where’s the Wendigo?” The man asked his voice scratchy from not being used.

“Dead thanks to us.” Crissy replied and pushed back her hood, so he could see her eyes

“How? Your only girls.” The man questioned.

Crissy huffed out a breath of irritation and thought, ‘Every fucking time.’

“We may be girls, but we are tougher and smarter than we look. Now don’t worry we’re going to take care of you.” Crissy replied successfully keeping the venom out of her voice. The man’s honey brown eyes meet her dark brown ones. He seemed to see something he recognized or trusted because he released Crissy’s wrist and shifted into a more comfortable position, wincing slightly at the pain shooting through his arms and torso.

“There’s no need to worry. You aren’t the first person we’ve saved, we know what we're doing." Cassidy stated and headed for the driver’s seat. Crissy shut the door, and glared at her sister momentarily.

“Nope! My car I drive.” Crissy directed.

“Fine, fine. No need to get all touchy.” Cassidy said switching sides with her sister.

***  
In less than an hour they were pulling into the small gravel drive way of their log cabin home. It wasn’t a huge house, but it had enough living space for three or four people to live in. It might be cramped but it was doable. It was a cabin with two rooms, a bathroom, kitchen, living room, and dining room. Though the house itself may be small the land it was on was never ending.

The moon was starting to slip away as the night drew older. The sisters helped the man out of the car, and though he really didn’t want to be in the need of help but he couldn’t deny the help they offered. Crissy grabbed a couple of things from the car and locked it up, while Cassidy allowed the man to lean on her in order for him to get to the house. Once inside Cassidy sat him on the couch, and went into the kitchen to get him some water. Crissy went and sat by him on the couch.

“So what’s your name?” Crissy asked tenderly. He leveled her with a soul-piercing gaze.

“Gabriel. You can call me Gabe.” He answered softly.


	2. New Home

“Well it’s very nice to meet you Gabe. I’m Crissy and that is my sister Cassidy. Do-”

“Wait your name is Gabriel?” Cassidy interrupted.

“That is what he said, Cass.” Crissy said pointedly, “Now as I was saying-”

“Like the messenger!” Cassidy stated happily, and handed Gabriel a glass of water.

“What are you talking about?” Crissy asked irritably.

“Don’t you remember from church? ‘The Messenger of God’ ‘Archangel Gabriel’ Are you named after him?” Cassidy questioned practically bouncing with excitement and curiosity. Gabriel took a sip of his water, and shrugged.

“I guess.” 

“That’s cool! I was named after an Angel too!” Cassidy stated excitedly. Gabe’s brow furrowed in confusion.

“No you weren’t you were named after a prostitute in a movie!” Crissy stated her voice full of laughter. 

“Hey! She was dressed like an Angel!” Cassidy barked back. Gabriel chuckled slightly at that.

“So getting back to what I meant to ask before. What do you remember of the night you were taken?” Crissy asked her demeanor changing from lighthearted to all business in a matter of seconds. Cassidy drifted back into the kitchen for no apparent reason. Gabe set his glass on the small coffee table in front of him and leaned back on the couch, which seemed to be sucking him into the creases of the couch itself.

“I honestly don’t remember much. I remember being dropped off in a small town not too far from Memphis, and I didn’t have any money, nor any place to stay, so I went out into the woods to find a little bit of shelter. Before I knew it the sun had set, and I was lost. I heard some very unfamiliar noises, and then everything went black. When I come to I’m strung up like a hog and covered in scratches.” Gabe said unconsciously rubbing his arm.

“Was there anybody else with you?” Crissy asked as she went to the closet to grab a blanket.

“Not when I was traveling, but when I was in the cave there were two other people there. The Wendigo got hungry.” Gabe stated simply, and accepted the blanket gratefully.

“Now how do you know about the Wendigo?” Crissy questioned as she sat back down.

“You two aren’t the only Hunters I’ve met. I’ve gotten around, but I just happened to get caught this time.” Gabriel explained. Cassidy finally emerged from the kitchen carrying a bowl, spoon and towel. In the bowl was beef broth. Not too rich as to make Gabe sick after so long without a proper meal, and just enough flavor to actually fill his stomach. Cassidy set it on the table in front of Gabriel along with the towel and spoon.

“Thank you.” Gabe said thoughtfully letting the soup sit and cool for a few moments.

“Wait you’ve met other Hunters? Who?” Cassidy interrogated perching on the edge of the chair. 

“I don’t know if I should really tell you two. How do I know I can trust you?” Gabe teased.

“Well we did save you from becoming a meal. I think you can at least grant us the knowledge of the other Hunters you’ve met.” Cassidy bantered in her less than subtle way.

“If I must. I met the Winchesters.” Gabriel claimed like it was a big accomplishment. He wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, but it definitely wasn’t the reaction he got.

“Who?” Crissy asked brow furrowed in the deepest form of confusion.

“The Winchesters. Sam and Dean Winchester. You haven’t heard of them?” Gabe asked kind of astounded. 'Where have these girls been living, under a rock? No they have been living deep in the forest.' Gabriel thought sarcastically. Cassidy and Crissy shook their heads in tandem.

“Should we know them?” Crissy questioned.

“I guess not. But I just assumed that all the Hunters knew them because they cause a lot of problems. But I guess it’s not of major importance.” Gabe responded with a shrug.

‘With them not knowing about the Winchesters they probably don’t know much about the recent events.’ Gabriel thought.

“If they cause so many problems how are they still alive?” Cassidy asked with a not so lighthearted chuckle.

“Actually they’ve died quite a few times, but they always end up coming back. Like cockroaches you can’t get rid of them.” Gabe informed as he started drinking his soup from the bowl, not bothering with the spoon.

“How do they keep coming back?” Crissy interrogated this speak of people coming back from the dead peaking her interest.

“Not really sure, but they do.” Gabe lied after swallowing a particularly large mouthful of broth.

“Wait what were their names again?” Crissy asked.

“Sam and Dean Winchester.” Gabe responded almost questioningly.

“Dean Winchester? Dean? Where have I heard that name before?” Crissy repeated as she looked over at Cassidy. Cassidy shrugged her shoulders in response, and before anyone could ask for clarification she was up and out of the living room and going into her room on the left side of the hallway. There were several scraping and bumping sounds and a loud ‘DAMMIT!’ and then shuffling of paper. Gabriel and Cassidy exchanged confused glances, and then Crissy emerged from her room with a newspaper clipping and rubbing the back of her head muttering under breath something about.

"Damn dresser. Needs to stay out of my way!"

Cassidy chuckles at the statement, and promptly shuts up when her sister sends her a particularly scolding glare.

“I knew I had heard the name before!” She exclaimed proudly handing Cassidy the newspaper clipping and Gabriel leaning over to see the article.

“Killer Winchester Dead at Last”

The article was completely covering the story on how Dean Winchester had been responsible for several deaths, and how he was finally killed in the end. But obviously if Gabe was right Dean Winchester was far from dead.

“Is this Dean?” Cassidy asked Gabriel, handing him the article so he could see it better.

“Yup that’s Dean-O.” Gabe responded with a sigh and gave the paper back to Crissy.

“Should we let them know you’re here, and that you’re alright? I mean are you guys close friends?” Crissy asked timidly, not entirely sure how comfortable she was with Dean Winchester bringing trouble with him.

“Oh no that’s not necessary. I may go and try to find them one day, but not anytime soon.” Gabe informed.

“You said you didn’t have any place to stay right? Well why don’t you stay with us? We can take care of you, and we have quite a bit of space.” Cassidy offered.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea. I might just bring trouble, and I wouldn’t be able to hunt like you guys.” Gabriel faltered. Gabriel knew that he would most likely draw things, bad things, to him. And he would really hate to burden these girls, who had been living with such a simple black and white lifestyle, with all of that drama. He would love to stay it would be one of the first true homes he’s had since Heaven, and even that never truly felt very homey. 

“Well you don’t have to hunt. But we could teach you to track and trap things. That’s not terribly hard to do, and you would be helping us a great deal by doing so.” Crissy pitched in. Though she knew that this guy could be dangerous, he was one of the first people she had met that actually knew about the Hunter lifestyle and knew other Hunters! He might have information, and even if he brings a little bit of danger with him hey something new to hunt.

“I really don’t want to take advantage of you two.” Gabriel stated. After his fall from Grace he had really gotten to see up close and personal just how hard it is to be Human. With all the emotions, and the pain, and the need for comfort, and the desire for contact, and the need of acceptance. It was a true pain in the ass! But also Gabe saw the kinder side to Humanity. Such as the love between family members, and the protectiveness of a husband over his family, and even the kind; tender curiosity of a child when experimenting with imagination. It was a beautiful and hard world. It really made Gabriel have a bit more appreciation for his Father and his creations, because it was truly a piece of art. In the extremely short time that Gabe has gotten to know Crissy and Cassidy he felt like he could trust them and he even, oddly enough, left the urge to protect them. As if they were his own siblings. He wasn’t sure if it was the simple ‘I owe you my life’ kicking in, or if it was the fact that they did really remind him of his siblings. And since he did a piss poor job of protecting and being there for them maybe, just maybe, he could make up for it by protecting these girls.

“You wouldn’t be taking advantage of us. We offered and you’ll be helping provide food, and track things. You would be perfectly helpful.” Crissy assured. Gabriel smiled at her logic, and it was a pretty convincing argument. But that could just be the couch and blanket calling him to sink further into the cushions and fall asleep.

“Fine. I will gladly stay with you.” Gabriel answered standing up to take his bowl and cup into the kitchen. A warm feeling grew in his chest at the thought.

‘So this is what Home feels like.’


	3. Six Months Later

Several months have gone by since Gabriel was saved from being a Wendigo chew toy. And to be quite plain, things have been going pretty well. Gabe, in the past six months, has learned to trap thing to a degree of mastery. He’s learned to track animal (and monsters) he even learned how to skin the animals he has caught and use them to make food if need be. Although Gabriel has been doing exceedingly well the monster count is not as promising. Everyday more and more monster have been coming into the woods. The surrounding towns and villages have been losing many people as of late, and it’s sending many of these communities into a panic.  
“Come on Cassidy, can I come with you guys this time? I can help!” Gabe asked pleadingly as Cassidy began packing her things for the hunt her and Crissy were going on this evening.  
“No, Gabe, you need to stay here. You don’t have any way to defend yourself, and we won’t be able to teach you how to until things start to settle down around here.” Cassidy stated flatly.  
It was an odd occurrence. No, it was downright weird. Through the many months that Gabe has been living with the Treaty Sisters he has noticed many strange ‘habits’ that the sisters possessed. For one, once Cassidy got to know you she transformed from a bouncy, curious girl into a sarcastic, yet mature 17 years old. Although most of the time she never really acted like a 17 year old in the first place, she seemed to be more like an adult that has gone through much in life. And secondly, Crissy seemed to do the exact opposite. When she got to know you she would go from a dominating, and commanding woman to a calm and opinionated teen. Though she still had quite the mouth on her, and she could definitely use more vulgar than a sailor Crissy was still a fairly docile girl.  
But this was very odd for Gabe, because for the longest time he always thought that Crissy was the older of the two sisters. And he still couldn’t figure out if it was a natural thing that they did, or if it was a tactic to trip people up when they first met them. Either way it was definitely mind-boggling.  
“Please Casssssss please let me help you!” Gabriel begged. Along with learning the skills that went with trapping, Gabe had also been learning the common and useful skills that Humans used to get what they wanted. Though begging wasn’t his favorite tactic, it worked wonders on Cassidy. Cassidy turned to Gabe with her arms crossed and a questioning eyebrow raised; she knew what he was doing. He never called her Cass, though she didn’t understand why nearly everyone else did, unless he wanted something really bad. Even though Cassidy was much younger, and even slightly shorter than Gabe, she still knew how to stop someone dead in their tracks if she chose to. He couldn’t really describe it but it was the glare that she did that made you feel like she was looking into your soul and reading every thought you ever had. Crissy knew how to do a damn good one as well.  
“No, Gabriel, and that’s final.” She deadpanned and turned back to loading the Jeep.  
“Fine I’ll stop asking, but I just want to feel like I’m doing something useful. Sure catching animals and helping with information is fun and all, but I hate having to watch you two go and risk your lives while I just sit here and hope you make it out alive.” Gabe confessed, and sat on the back of the Jeep watching as she double checked the items in the truck.  
“I know you’re worried, Hell I even get scared. And I promise, I swear on everything that I stand for, that one day we will teach you how to do what we do. Just not right now, and maybe not even soon. But we will one day. And don’t make me think that you won’t be throwing a party if we got killed.” Cassidy teased and looked at Gabe reading his expression.  
“Hey, that’s not nice… Okay maybe a small party, but then I’d be a wreck for ages.” Gabriel said with a chuckle.  
“At least make it a good party.” Cassidy advised and punched Gabe lightly in the arm.  
He rubbed his arm mockingly as if had actually hurt and laughed deeply at the suggestion. This was another thing he wasn’t quite used to. Ever since he has been living with the sisters he has grown a light-hearted nature about him. When he first realized this he had a slight panic attack and went off on his own for a couple of weeks. He was convinced that he was losing his edge. The sharp witted commentary and the ruthless disobedience that he had developed, relied upon, and lived with for eons. But during those two weeks he began to notice that he hadn’t lost those characteristics about him, they were just in a different form. They weren’t as shady and hard to track; they had changed to being more direct and potent.  
During his two week vacation from the sisters he realized many things along with his self-discovery moment. Such as motels suck, you need money to do anything, you will begin to smell if you don’t shower after a couple of days, and (though he doesn’t want to admit it) he missed the Treaty Sisters. They maybe odd and quirky but they were the nicest people he has meet so far, and they knew about the life of a Hunter. So at least it wouldn’t be too different from when he would mess with the Cassie and the Winchesters.  
“We’re having a party? When?!” Crissy asked as she walked around the corner of the garage over hearing the last bit of the conversation.  
“Oh, Gabe here is going to have a party when we get killed on our hunt, and he said he was going to have a small party. But I told him to at least make it good.” Cassidy answered nonchalantly.  
“We aren’t going to die! You can’t get rid of us that easily! It’s just a Wendigo.” Crissy stated simply.  
“Darn, I haven’t had a party in some time! Oh well, maybe some other day.” Gabe teased and shoved Crissy lightly by her shoulder.  
“Have you checked the traps today?” Cassidy questioned switching topics.  
“No not today. Was I supposed to?” Gabe replied.  
“No but we are running low on meat, and I think it might have been a good idea.” Crissy answered finishing Cassidy’s thought. She glanced at the low setting sun, they need to move if they planned on finishing this hunt tonight. Cassidy seemed to be thinking along the same lines.  
“Don’t worry about it tonight. We’ll check the traps tomorrow morning.” Cassidy stated and closed the trunk of the Jeep, and headed for the passenger seat that she always claimed.  
“Yup, we’ll be back later tonight, Gabe. You don’t have to stay up and wait for us. Be safe, and keep the door locked.” Crissy ordered as she gave Gabriel a quick hug and jumped into the driver’s seat. The Jeep then started up and the headlights glowed brightly as Crissy pulled it out of the garage. Gabe watched as they drove down the narrow rocky road and disappeared into the trees.  
“I hate watching them go…” Gabe muttered to himself as he walked into the log cabin and slid the bolt home.


	4. Captured

When Gabe woke up the next morning both of the girls were back home and unharmed. He was never really concerned that the sister would get themselves killed while out on a hunt, but it was always a possibility. And a possibility that he really didn’t want to occur. Both sisters were sleeping soundly in their beds in the room that they shared. Gabe peeked into the room to check on them, but then he closed the door quietly and went to the kitchen to fix the sisters and himself a light breakfast. 

Gabriel had found that he wasn’t a ‘picker-eater’. He found that he enjoyed many different types of foods, drinks, and sweets. Even though he was no longer the powerful Archangel that he once was he still had the soul of a Trickster and he loved it. He still loved sweet things and pranks and messing with everyone ruthlessly. But the sisters are good at tricks themselves, and they have had their fair share of prank wars around the house over the past few months.

For instance, the sisters had set a trap on the route that Gabe uses to check the traps he has set, and he got strung up in a tree for at least five hours before the sisters finally got him down while laughing at his glares that he shot at them. He got them back, of course, but this was the first time he was being tricked back, and to be completely honest he greatly enjoyed it. The sisters always knew how to keep him on his toes. 

Gabe drifted over to the fridge and pulled out the carton of eggs, and to the bread box lifting up the lid to grab the bread, and to the cabinet to retrieve the coffee canister and a packet of hot chocolate. (Hello Trickster, hot chocolate is hella lot sweeter than coffee no matter how much sugar you put in it.) Sure the sisters tried everything they could think of to try and get Gabe to love coffee as much as they did, but Gabriel would have nothing to do with the bitter drink. After a while they gave up, but Gabe never did really find out why it was so important to them.

‘I’ll have to ask them sometime.’ Gabe thought idly as he pulled down the toaster and started the coffee maker. 

After fifteen minutes Gabe had finished the eggs, toast, coffee, and his hot chocolate and had it all sitting on the table. Surprisingly neither Crissy nor Cassidy were up yet, normally they are extremely light sleepers and are up and out of bed at the drop of a pen none the less a whole meal being cooked in the kitchen; but that just indicated that the hunt was really tough last night. 

Gabe walked back into the hallway and stopped for a moment outside the girls’ room and planned on how he was going to wake them up. He could use an elaborate plan but that could take too long to set up (can’t just snap his fingers anymore) so simple wake-up-call it is! He crept into the room and tip-toed over to Crissy’s bed first, she always had the best reactions. Gabriel smirked evilly and fell across her sleeping form.

“Wake up, ladies!” Gabriel shouted jumping up before Crissy could unsheathe her knife from under her pillow. He ran over to Cassidy’s bed and shook her shoulders hard to make sure she woke up, “Breakfast is on the table!”

Then he ran out of the room as the girls calmed themselves from the very sudden wake-up-call.

“I swear to God, Gabe, I’m going to fucking kill you! You landed on my bruise!” Crissy, that was most definitely Crissy.

“Sorry Crissy!” Gabe called back chuckling softly as he took his place at the dining room table.

“I’d watch your back if I were you, Gabe. You might find yourself hanging upside down in a tree tomorrow morning if you aren’t careful.” Cassidy warned smiling over at him as she sat down at the table, “Thanks for the breakfast by the way.”

“No problemo, Cassidy. How was the hunt?” Gabriel asked pushing the plate of toast towards her.

“Terrible! It fucking sucked!” Crissy called from the bedroom.

“What happened?” Gabe whispered to Cassidy to insure to not anger Crissy anymore this morning, and took a large bit out of his toast.

“The Wendigo snuck up behind her and flung her against a tree, luckily I dropped it before it could do anything worse. But she got a pretty big bruise, and a super pissed-off attitude.” Cassidy explained quietly.

“So no survivors I’m assuming.” Gabe said with a nod.

“Nope, and I’m not in a pissed-off mood!” Crissy stated and smacked Cassidy on the back of the head as she passed her sister to sit down next to her, “Pass me the coffee would you?”

Cassidy passed the coffee and plate of toast down the table, and Gabe sat back in his chair sipping his hot chocolate chuckling at Crissy’s sour-faced glare.  
“Oh, I’ve got to go check the traps, you two want to come along?” Gabriel asked starting in on his eggs.

Cassidy looked over at Crissy whom was taking a long drink from her mug of coffee and then she looked back to Gabriel, “Sure I’ll go right after I finish up the dishes. Do you want to tag along, Crissy, you feel up to it?”

Crissy set down her mug, wiped the back of her hand across her mouth, and sighed (whether it was out of frustration or contentment Cassidy couldn’t tell), “Yeah, I’ll go. I just might be a little slower than normal.”

“Do you want me to take a look at your bruise? See if there is something to kind of ease the pain?” Cassidy asked, wincing internally at the offer knowing that it was most likely going to be refused. 

“If that will set your mind at ease, sis, then have at it. I really don’t give damn.” Crissy stated flashing a small smirk at her sister.

“I think I might remember a paste of some sort that is supposed to help get rid of bruises, and to ease the pain of them. And I believe the plant is around here, but I’m not quite sure. It’s called a Hyssop, it’s a plant with many bright purple flowers along the stem. It almost looks like lavender.” Gabe explained slowly, trying to recall as much information as possible.

Although Gabriel still remembered many facts and helpful information from his time as an angel, his memory wasn’t indefinite. So recalling simple knowledge about a flower- that he many have only heard about and dealt with maybe once or twice in his long time of existing- was becoming a bit difficult. 

“Oh I know what plant you’re talking about! Yeah there is a big patch of them in that clearing that we pass through on your trap route.” Crissy informed with a nod.

“Alrighty then ladies, let’s suit up and go.” Gabe jumped up, grabbed his plate, and placed them by the sink before walking back to his room to ‘suit up’ as he so like to call it.

“Why does he call it that? Your putting on a cloak and buckling two knives to your person, it’s not a suit!” Cassidy questioned as she finished the last of her coffee.

“I really don’t know. It’s, Gabe, I have just chosen not to question him anymore.” Crissy replied with a shrug, and went to set her plate and mug by the sink as well, “I’m going to go get ready.”

“I say it because it’s fun! What happened to the fun around here?” Gabe called mockingly.

“Fun went out the door about the time you walk in it!” Crissy called back.

Gabriel’s bedroom door opened and his shaggy head popped out, “I am deeply hurt, Crissy, I thought I was like an older brother to you! I thought we were family!”

Cassidy chuckled under her breath and placed her dishes by the sink so she could clean off the rest of the table, “It’s alright Gabe, it wasn’t you that caused the fun to go away. It left about the time Crissy got personally acquainted with that oak. You can still be my big brother.”

“Well as long as I have you then I don’t need Crissy’s love. Love you, Cassidy!” Gabe teased, and closed his door.

“Love you too, Gabe!” Cassidy called back with a chuckle.

“Screw both of you!” Crissy said heading back to her shared bedroom.

“No thank you, sis!” Cassidy quipped and went back to filling the sink with warm water.

~.~.~.~.~

After twenty minutes the trio was ready to go on their rounds to check the traps and gather the Hyssop plants. All three of them wore a mottled green-grey cloak that hung down to their ankles. It was both light and unrestrictive and provided camouflage if need be. 

This was another one of the odd customs that the sister had that Gabriel truly did not understand. Why cloaks? Seriously, it was pretty impractical but it seemed to just be part of who they were, so he didn’t really bother to question it. 

Until the day when they asked him to wear one too. 

“Why? Seriously what is the point? Won’t simple camouflage do?” he had asked.

“It works as camouflage truly. But it’s comfortable and can be used all year-round. Come on just go with it.” Crissy had explained, and they left it at that.

Gabe grew used to the odd clothing and actually grew to like it, though he would never admit it. Along with the cloak he had two knives. One was smaller than the other by about two inches and it weighed much less. The smaller one was for throwing though he wasn’t that great with it yet. Still training, still practicing. The heavier knife was for fighting or skinning.

Not often has he ever had to use either of the knives but it made the sisters and himself feel slightly better knowing that he had something to protect himself with if need be.

Today the weather was very calm. The sun was bright, and there was a soft breeze ruffling the young leaves in the tall oak and maple trees. Grass crunched softly under their feet as they continued on the route to each of Gabriel’s snares. The first two snares were empty, which wasn’t much of a surprise considering the traps were placed in areas of low wildlife. 

The trio made a slight detour to go to the clearing full of Hyssop. They gathered many of the leaves from the tall-stocked purple plants, and placed them in the small bag that Cassidy was carrying. Then they moved on.

“I’m going to trail ahead, I can’t remember if I placed a couple of snares in an unmarked place, but I think I did just to test out if the catches were any good.” Gabriel explained before branching off the west.

“Okay, be careful we’ll be right behind you after we check the next one.” Cassidy replied and peeled off sticking north.

Gabriel observed as the sisters seemed to melt into the forest, truly it was an impressive thing. But Gabe never really could get the hang of it like they could. 

‘Just keep practicing.’ Is what Crissy always told him, but practice was such an annoying thing to him. He wanted to get good at these skills and he wanted to right away, but things aren’t as simple as they used to be.

Gabe traveled by the stream for several yards, and then forked to the east looping almost back to the same path the sister were heading in. This lead him to a sheer cliff face that had a conclave of trees at its base. The perfect hide out for larger animals to graze, although it made escaping a bit tricky.

“Dammit!” a voice shouted. 

It sounded strained almost over used. It was very distinctly male, so Gabe have to worry about it being the girls. But what was anybody doing this deep in the woods, most deer and bear hunters dare come this far into the woods.

‘Poachers possibly?’ Gabe guessed, and lightened his footfalls to near silence. He unsheathed the larger knife from its sheath, and it hissed with the distinct sound of leather on metal.

“Struggling isn’t going to help. It hasn’t helped for the past two hours, so why would it help now?” a different voice said.

It voice was once again male, but it was softer less gravely. And familiar. Gabe cocked his head to the side at that realization.

“Your brother is right-”

“Shut up!”

Gabe finally reached the edge of the place he thought he might have set some traps. He pulled his cloak in closer to him and crouched in the shadow of a maple tree, and watched to scene in front of him. And he could not believe his eyes.

Both of the traps that Gabriel had set were sprung. One trap was a net trap that could easily string up 400 pounds of weight if it needed to. And the other was a very simple loop trap, you step one foot in it and you are now a piñata hanging 10 feet in the air. And who of all people on this Earth just happen to stumble in on the traps?

The Winchesters and their clipped angel of course.

Dean was the unfortunate one to get stung up 10 feet in the air. While Sam and Castiel sat awkwardly in the net. Gabriel smirked to himself, this was just too good. He pulled up the hood on his cloak and calmly stepped out from the cover of the trees.

“Well would you look at this; it seems I have caught myself a moose, a squirrel, and a flightless bluebird.” Gabe teased as he looked up to see his captives. Most of his face remained hidden by the large hood of the cloak, but the playful smirk on his lips could still be seen.

“Oh great! Now we’re going to be eaten, what odd creature are you, so I can at least know what to expect?” Dean called down attempting to seem someone domineering although he was hanging upside down 10 feet in the air with his shirt bunching up under his arms, and revealing most of his stomach and chest.

“Don’t you remember me, Deano? Your old pal!” Gabriel asked.

“G-Gabriel?” Sam guessed grabbing the sides of the net as he tried to get a closer look at the hooded figure.

“Hey Samsquatch, how’s it hangin’?” Gabe teased letting the hood fall back onto his shoulders.

“Not funny, Gabriel, get us down.” Dean ordered.

“How are you alive? You died! I heard the cry from our brothers and sisters after Lucifer! You were dead!” Castiel interrogated.

“Not the time, Cas, you can have your little family interrogation once we’re all safe on the ground again.” Dean interrupted.

“Gabe? What’s going on?” Crissy called as her and Cassidy emerged from the surrounding forest. Both of their hoods were up and he doubted if they would be taking them down anytime soon.

‘Great. Now I have a lot of explaining to do.’ Gabriel thought bitterly.

“I’ll explain everything, and I do mean everything,” Gabe reassured turning from the sisters to look up at the other trio, “Once we get them down. Help me get them down.”

Crissy, Cassidy, and Gabe all moved to the release cords for the traps. They lowered Dean down first, and then moved to the net trap. This trap was considerably lower only four maybe five feet off the ground, and it’s a good thing too. They weren’t exactly expecting that much weight to be on the rope when they started to lower Sam and Castiel to the ground. And when the net was being completely held up by only the sisters and Gabe, well things went downhill pretty fast. The rope slipped from their grasps, and Sam and Castiel went free falling to the ground from four feet up.

A large thump and two simultaneous groans emanated from the other side of the tree.

“Sorry boys.” Crissy offered.

“No problem, let’s just never do that again.” Sam wheezed from his spot on the ground, “You alright, Cas?”

“I’m-” Cassidy started.

“I’m fine, but I would be better if you could get off my leg.” Castiel replied, groaning with the effort to set up.

Dean finally untangled himself from the ropes and went over to help Sam and Cas to their feet. He brushed off the dirt of himself, and strode over to where Gabriel and the girls stood with Sam and Cas at his sides.

“So who are these two?” Dean asked indicating the two sisters.

“I’m Crissy, and this is my sister Cassidy.” Crissy informed pushing her hood off her head and signaling for her sister to do the same, “Who are you?”

“I’m Dean, this is my brother Sam, and this is Cas.” Dean supplied with a small nod, “I think you have some explaining to do, Gabe.”


End file.
